Our busy life with an amazing veterinarian and cattleman, a gardening, quilting and history loving wife and mother, a creative perfectionist violinist, a spunky and kind epileptic princess, a sweet yet wild little man, and the most mellow and happy babe, on a joyful 1/2 acre living and loving in a beautiful mountain valley.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

This cute catalog came in the mail last week. It is an AMERICAN GIRL catalog. I am somewhat new to AG, but I do know what they are - they are cute fun expensive dolls. My girls have been scouring this book and thankfully my friend Jen brought hers over so the girls would not have to share. They can sit on the couch TOGETHER and look at the dolls without arguing, hitting, squealing, etc.

Kelsey has gone through the entire book and has shown me the 27 dolls she would like, but she has narrowed herself down to this one, Julie the hippie. The AMERICAN GIRL dolls are super cute and fun and they have historical dolls and fun books to learn about different time periods and how girls lived then. Julie happens to be from 1974. I think she picked this doll because of her long blond hair and the hat!

Here is the kicker - these cute fun dolls are $100! One hundred dollars. They are super cute, but 100 hundred dollars?!?!? Kelsey asked me if she could get one for Christmas, changed her mind and said, "or tomorrow, I am not sure if I can wait!" I am not a complete tight wad, but yes, a little bit of a tight wad. Okay, I admit it, a major tight wad. I spent about $100 on both of my girls together last year for Christmas!!

When Kelsey had her search narrowed down to about 4 dolls, I said to her "Kelsey, I don't think you are going to get all 4 dolls. They cost a lot of money and so 4 dolls is a whole lot of money. I know you know how much 100 is, and that is how much these cute dolls cost." She got a reference point for toy prices as she proceeded to ask me how much this costs and how much that costs and how much her Leapster cost etc etc. So then she was super sweet to me and said "I was going to ask Santa for some new arrows for my bow and arrow, but maybe I will ask him for an AMERICAN GIRL doll and you can get me the arrows so you don't have to spend so much money. Santa has lots of money."

How should I have responded to that? I wanted to start crying. I don't know if I felt worse about her being so sweet and considerate of my wallet, or if I feel badly for making her realize money doesn't grow on trees, or if she thought that she was not worth a 100 dollar doll. I wanted to take back my entire conversation about how much those stupid dolls cost just so she would have her money innocence back. But then, don't kids need to learn about money and that things cost money? See, I am rationalizing here.

Anyway, I talked to Matt yesterday about AMERICAN GIRL dolls and he thought it was funny! I wanted to hurt him. I have been so torn up about the conversation Kelsey and I had and feeling badly for making her think in dollar signs and he thought it was sweet and funny. It was sweet, Kelsey is a sweet girl. So I said to Matt, "What should we do? She really wants one for Christmas." You know what he said? "Well then, get one, but not the hippie."

Men!!

This is another one of the dolls Kelsey likes. Her name is Molly and her era is 1944, so she grew up during World War II. See, they are cute dolls and imagine what she would learn and how much more she would understand by reading Molly's books about growing up during the war, having rationed gasoline, searching for scrap metal on the roadside, Victory Gardens, etc. These dolls are truly a good thing, but why so much stinking money?!?!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

My mom gives great presents. She is a smart gift giver at Christmas and for birthdays. She actually gives stuff that you night need or that nobody else would ever give you. Her presents are so much fun, for adults and she does a great job with the grandkids. Well, about 12 or 13 years ago she gave a great Christmas gift, of course. I can't remember the year, it was either 1995 or 1996. Matt and I were married 10 days before Christmas, so it was either our very first Christmas together, or the next year when we had been married for a year. Either way, it was a LONG LONG time ago!One of the gifts she gave Angie, Tori, and myself was a new razor, razor refills, and shave gel. Matt and Glen got the same gift, just the manly version. Wasn't that a great gift? Yes, it was. It was useful and thoughtful and original. I loved it. Well, I have great news for everyone concerning this gift. I used the very last cartridge yesterday! That is right, I inserted the 5th and final razor refill into my razor yesterday. I have 6 red slit marks on my legs to prove it.

Some of you may be sick by now. I truly do shave quite frequently (although in my Oregon-living years I can't say it was very often). Frequently for me means on Sunday morning in the winter and 3 times a week during the summer. So why then do you ask did it take me 12 or 13 years to use 6 razors? (there was one on the razor) Technically, the last blade isn't even used yet, I still have a good 2 years until that one is considered used. Well friends, I love a dull razor. Sharp, crisp, new razors scare me. Maybe it stems back to the days of 6th grade in the tub, shaving my legs when I wasn't supposed to be shaving my legs and watching in horror as a layer of my skin curled up into a nice little 3 1/2 inch long ringlet as I brought the very sharp razor up over my shin bone. Who knows? But I still like a nice dull razor. Maybe all I am doing with a 2 year old blade is breaking off the hair, but it shows no blood and it makes me feel better.

I have to show this picture just so you all realize how long ago I received this great present from my mom. Remember price tags? Wow, bar codes were nothing to us! Thanks mom for such a great gift. I know you never intended it to last this long, but thanks all the same. To make you all feel better, the gel is long gone. Be glad I didn't post a picture of the actual razor. 13 years of hard water, it is not pretty. Oh yeah and mom, Matt's razor died about 2 years ago. I had to replace it. But he is very different from me, he goes through those refill blades like they are ice cream! I guess a sharp edge doesn't scare him.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Look at the new additions to my yard. I can not tell you how excited I am over 2 trees. What is wrong with me? I think they are so pretty though and I have been meaning to plant something near our SOUTH facing deck for shade and I finally did it!

I took this picture about 2 weeks ago. There aren't too many leaves left on them today after yesterday's wind! Thanks for looking at my pretty maples, even though I know most of you don't understand how happy trees, shrubs, and flowers make me!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

My friend Jen saw this on someone else's blog, did it, and I thought it was so cute. You are supposed to download the 4th picture in the 4th folder on your computer and tell about it. So here is mine. It is a little blurry because I took it from the inside of my house, out my bedroom window, through the screen. It was taken in August 2006, so that means Kelsey was 4 and Kendal was 1. I remember taking this picture out the window while I was folding clothes. I could hear their laughter and giggles and knew it might not last until I got outside, so I took a picture from my bedroom. I love my sweet little girls. It is crazy how fast they are growing up!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

My cousin has this on her blog and I just had to take the quiz, just had to, also, since I seem to be on a VAMPIRE kick it seemed to fit! I really didn't think I would be Esme though. I am not sure who I thought I would be. Rosalie - in my dreams, Alice - I need to be a little more like Alice, Bella - was I ever THAT dramatic and needy? Maybe I was thinking I would be Victoria!!Keep in mind, I have still not read the 4th book. I don't want the story to end for me yet, so I have put off the fourth book for a little while. It is killing my sister and my mom that I haven't read it yet. Maybe when the snow flies - for real this time, and it sticks on the ground. That is when I will read it. If you take the quiz, you gotta tell me who you are. There is also the MALE version on the same link. I might give it to Matt and see if he really is my Jacob or if he is my Edward!. He might be the good doctor!

Why is it that we think our own kids are so cute and the most adorable kids that we have ever seen? This has recently happened to me. I have always thought my kids were super cute, but for some reason, Kelsey's toothless smile is so darling!My entire adult life I have truly disliked kids when they lose their two front teeth. I think they are NOT cute, very far from it! I always felt sorry for my two sister in laws who teach elementary school and have to look at kids all day every day that are missing their two front teeth. I have been dreading the day that Kelsey had two front teeth missing since she started loosing teeth a year ago, knowing that she would become a child vampire, but, not now. She is so cute! And not only that, all the kids her age are suddenly cute with missing teeth, not repulsing!

Although I have to admit there is one horrible side effect to Kelsey's very cute vampire look. I have been havingDREAMS!Dreams about people in my life, mostly from my past, that have Kelsey's teeth. When they saunter into my dream, they look like their normal selves, but then they start talking to me in my dream and they are missing their 2 front teeth! It is getting a little creepy. It has happened about 4 times in the past few weeks. What does this mean? I have finally come to the conclusion that first graders are cute with no teeth, but adult people I know? Yuck! I guess I hope those vampire teeth fill in soon, but for Halloween it is so CUTE!

Monday, October 13, 2008

During the last week of September, my sweet mom came up to Heber City and stayed for a few days so I could go to some of the Utah Quilt Guild's Quiltfest in Ogden. My mom took care of my kids and home, cooked them food, gave them baths, got them to school and home again, and read Dora books for 5 hours straight to Kendal, not to mention hide and seek with Kelsey. She is a trooper! Thanks mom! While she was taking care of my kids and home, I was taking a few fun classes to learn new techniques for piecing quilts together.

One class I took was on Bargello quilts. I had to bring 10 to 20 fat quarters (1/4 yard) to cut up and sew back together. I chose blues, browns, and creams. It was a fun class, but of course I didn't get ANYWHERE near finished! I did get one 'loop' made and here it is.

I get to make 2 more of these loops in the exact fabric order as this one. This picture is for my Biggest Loser friends, look at how much weight I have lost! The irritated face is for Jones, Brian, and Tori - who so far are the biggest losers and have lost a grundle of weight. Nice word!

So after I make 2 more of these loops, I cut them up into lengthwise skinny strips, stagger them a bit, and sew them all back together again to make something that looks like this!

These 2 pictures are quilts my teacher made, the pretty purplish one and the FIRE one! She was not happy about this picture, but thanks Jill Cox for letting me take it! She is the Utah Quilt Guild president this year and she was super nice.

The other class I took at Quiltfest was called 'Stars Across the Prairie.' I had a few more instructions on what fabric to buy for this one. Thanks Jen for going fabric shopping with me, you are a saint. I needed 28ish fabrics that depicted a landscape I wanted to portray. HA!

So, here is my amazing landscape fabrics. Can't you just see the landscape bursting through?!?! So I went from these strips to this - a prairie braid. I did get a little more finished in this class, probably about 2/3 of the way done.

I get to finish 5 more of these prairie braids with the same fabric order, sew them all together, piece in a few stars and then I will get -' Stars Across Thousand Lake' or maybe 'Stars Across FishlakeMtn.' I haven't decided yet. It should look a little like the one below which is 'Stars Across the Desert.'

This is my other wild and fun teacher and her take on Stars Across Southern Utah somewhere. Wish me luck and if you see the faint glowing light on in my sewing/computer room at night, instant message me and tell me to get off the computer and get sewing!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

I just finished the book called Brisingr and it was a great book. It is the third book in the Inheritance Cycle, also known as Eragon. It was just released in September and was supposed to be the final book of the series, but as I got to the last quarter of it, I realized that there was no way the story could wrap up and end by the end of this book, so I am VERY happy that there is one more book to come. For those of you that watched the movie Eragon, you really should read the book, it is much much better and the movie doesn't even follow the book. I will stop here because I could go on and on about that darn movie! Anyway, I guess I get to get back to my quilting projects now. I have so enjoyed the evenings for the last few weeks though - getting the girls to bed, sitting on my new $50 couch, reading my book, and listening to the fire crackle while Matt watches a SILENT cow sale dvd. It has been lovely. Matt and his brother Mark are in Montana for a few days at a cow sale, I seriously think he has that dvd memorized. He will know the cow's name, her number, her mother, her father, and how many embryoes she produces as soon as she gets let into the auction pen, maybe even how much she weighs or her milk production EPDs. I love that guy!

There is one funny thing I just noticed on the back of the book. There are a bunch of quotes that say how good the book and the author is, la la la. By the way, Christopher Paolini, the author, is only like 22 or something like that, very young. Anyway, there is one quote that says "The new 'It' of children's lit." I laughed and laughed at that - children's lit. These books are aimed for the young adult crowd, but what CHILD is going to read a 763 page book? I have a child and she reads 16 page books and it about exhausts her! I can handle reading a 'young adult' book, but not a children's book that took me nearly a month!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

We went on our last firewood getting trip this week. Tuesday Matt and I did two loads again and we meant to go out and get another load today, but since it SNOWED we didn't. Our firewood permit expires October 15th, so I guess we are officially finished. I hope our wood pile gets us through the winter!

We have enjoyed going out together as a little family to get firewood. It has been a good opportunity to teach these sweet girls that sometimes you do things that you don't necessarily want to and you still continue to live through it! Also that you can have fun while you work. The mountains have been so pretty this fall and we have enjoyed our time in the mountains very much.

Friday, October 10, 2008

I am going to make a HUGE I-Spy quilt for Kelsey's first grade teacher for Christmas. This is her first year teaching and I think she would love a huge quilt to lay out on the floor for reading time or whatever for the kids to sit on. I am going to make my square very large, like 16 inches or somewhere around that size so each kid could sit on their own square. I will just tie mine and put a flannel or denim back on mine. I am wondering if anyone else is up for an I-Spy quilt so we can share different fabrics. Let me know if anyone is interested!

We made these 8 inch square quilts for Enrichment last year and it was such a good time. My girls LOVE our I-Spy quilts. Just so you know, that is when Kendal was in her head bonking stage last summer. Her head hurt so badly from the seizures and the medications, she would just bang her head, until of course, I came and made her stop. Glad that chapter is over. She told me this morning when I gave her a bowl of oatmeal "Sank you mamma." I love my little girls!

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Our school district has 'early out Mondays.' The kids in all the schools get out an hour earlier than usual. I know, why not on Friday? But I didn't make the rules. So on Monday, I decided that I would do something fun with my girls when Kelsey got home from school. We haven't been to the duck pond in Midway all summer, so we headed over there with a few rolls of saltine crackers. I was out of bread, I hope we don't give the ducks high blood pressure with all the salt!

When we got there, Kendal was dead asleep. The poor girl was so tired. We let her sleep for about 20 minutes and then Kelsey said "Mom, we can not let Kendal miss feeding the ducks. She would love it and I would feel bad if she missed this." So I went and woke up our little sleeping beauty.

Kelsey had already fed them one entire column of crackers, and we had eaten over 1/2 of the other one on the way over to Midway, so Kendal didn't get to throw very many crackers into the water. Kelsey made sure to break up the crackers for Kendal so they would last longer.

The girls loved playing with the ducks. Kendal was so cute, I am glad we woke her up so she wouldn't miss the fun. Kelsey is such a good big sister, sometimes. I have to add that because she can be a horribly mean big sister too.

We spent about an hour at the duck pond and we enjoyed the nice fall weather. I need to do more easy, fun things with my girls. Your suggestions are welcome!

Saturday, October 04, 2008

I built our first ever fire today in our new stove! It rained all night and most of the day so it was a little chilly here today. The power was out for about an hour this morning so it was the perfect opportunity to build a little fire. It took a little love and some newspapers from the neighbors, (all I had was book order newspaper!)but I had a roaring little fire in no time. I let it burn good and warm for about 2 hours and got the kitchen thermometer up to 75 degrees (holy sweat glands!) and then shut her down to just a little air flow. It burned nice and slow for a few more hours and now it is 8:00 at night and it is still a nice 71 degrees in here.

It was a nice lazy morning with a fire going while we watched General Conference with the neighbor's rabbit ears on our TV. Nothing like the good ol days! At noon we headed to Home Depot to buy a little poker stick set. I needed one of those!

Now I just need to get Matt to split a little more wood to hold us over for the next 6 months and all will be well in Heber City! He is down south for the weekend trying to find him a nice elk to kill. Doesn't that sound nice? I hope his bed is dry tonight in that tent of his!

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Today is Matthew Crane's 36th birthday. Happy Birthday Crane! We love you tons and tons!Matt ADORES his little family, and in return, he gets our adoration. He is a super guy, an amazing dad, and a great husband that takes care of his family. We love him very much.